How to Care for Your Peonies Before and After Bloom
One of the most magnificent garden mainstays is the common herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora). See reasons why peonies should be in your garden, plus 10 tips on planting and caring for these beauties. (Don鈥檛 forget to support their heads!)
6 Reasons Why Peonies Should Be in Your Garden
- Peony plants are so long-lived that it is commonly said that peonies will outlive the gardeners who plant them! Note: They will not bloom in their first year, but once established, peonies may bloom for 100 years or more with little or no attention.
- Peonies also thrive almost anywhere in the country. Many varieties can even survive a Zone 2 winter (that鈥檚 a low of -50掳F).
- Even when not in bloom, their dark green, glossy foliage and shrub-like appearance make them handsome focal points in the garden.
- Peony plants are virtually pest-free鈥攄eer and rabbits don鈥檛 like their bitter taste.
- Showy and fragrant, peonies will also make excellent cut flowers!
- While September is the best time to plant bare-root peonies (since they are dormant in the fall), container-grown peonies can be planted almost any time. If you are looking longingly at your neighbor鈥檚 peonies and wishing you had some right now, go for it!
Many nurseries offer early, midseason, and late blooming varieties, making it possible for you to stretch out the peony season over many weeks. There are 6 flower types to choose from anemone, single, Japanese, semi-double, double, and bomb. The colors range from pristine white to pink, peach, yellow, magenta, deep reds, and even bi-colors.
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Fragrances vary as well鈥攕ome plants, such as 鈥楩estiva Maxima鈥 and 鈥楧uchesse de Nemours鈥, have intoxicating, rose-like scents, while others are lemony or have no scent at all. If fragrance is important to you, give them the sniff test before you buy.
5 Tips for Planting Peonies Properly
- In choosing a spot for your new peony to grow, make sure it will get lots of light鈥6 to 8 hours of full sun is best for producing a profusion of flowers but it will still perform well in a location with morning sun and light afternoon shade. Peonies will not bloom in the shade.
- Peony plants need well-draining, neutral soil away from competing tree roots. This plant will grow to cover an area about 3 feet in diameter (and stand 3 feet tall), so give it plenty of room and don鈥檛 crowd it! Once planted, it can remain undisturbed for many years as long as it is flowering well.
- Planting depth is critical; if a peony is planted too deeply, it won鈥檛 bloom. When planting a container-grown peony, cover it no deeper than it grew in the pot.
- Try not to disturb the rootball or damage the feeder roots. A newly planted peony can take up to 3 years to reach its full flowering potential, but once established, this plant likes to be left alone.
- Be patient. Note that peonies do not flower in their first year of planting, and it may take two to three years for the plant to bloom profusely. Once mature, a plant in the sun can produce as many as 50 flowers each year for a lifetime of beautiful blooms.
See our Peony Planting Guide for more information!
How to Support Peonies
Peonies need support while growing due to their heavy flowers and brittle stems, especially the larger flowering varieties. Peony rings were invented for just this purpose, or you can use a wire tomato cage. Placing the support around the plants early in spring is ideal so you don鈥檛 accidentally pierce the crown.
Many newer hybrids are being developed with stronger stems to eliminate this problem, and single, anemone, or semi-double flowering varieties usually don鈥檛 need staking.
The plant will grow up through the support and eventually hide the wire.
5 Tips on Caring for Peonies
- Deadhead peonies after they finish flowering. The petals will brown, which isn鈥檛 attractive. Cut the stem underneath the old bloom, leaving the foliage alone.
- Wait until the fall to cut back the foliage to discourage overwintering pests.
- Mulch new plants with evergreen boughs or salt marsh hay after the ground freezes.
- The only serious problem peonies ever get is 鈥渂otyrtis,鈥 a fungal disease can be avoided with good air circulation around the plant. Signs of botrytis are blackened buds and stems. Cut off and dispose of any affected areas (in the trash, not in your compost pile). If you plant properly and avoid crowding, you shouldn鈥檛 have this problem.
- Peonies can be susceptible to powdery mildew in late summer, but do not worry. The white, powdery mildew fungus may not be pretty, but it seems harmless. Better air circulation can avoid mildew.
If you share my passion for peonies, get out there and enjoy them! Pick lots of bouquets to perfume the house! Like all good things, peony blossoms won鈥檛 last forever, and you don鈥檛 want to miss a minute!
Robin Sweetser
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My peony has been in my garden many years and produces flowers every year. After it is done blooming the leaves, all of them. Get ragged like something has been chewing on them. I cannot see any bugs and plant seems to be healthy otherwise.
Thoughts??
I bought two beautiful peony plants about three to four years ago, planted them in yard. They come up every Spring but then bear no flowers at all. They are near trees.
Will it be ok to transplant them now in spring? In a better location
Peonies are infamous for being difficult to transplant, but if you do need to transplant them, you should do so in the fall rather than the spring. It sounds like they were getting shaded out by the trees鈥攑lant them in a sunny spot for the best flowering.
I planted three herbaceous peoniesin my perennial sun bed in Arkansas. They bloomed beautifully then I cut them back to the ground in the fall. It is now April 1 of the following spring and no foliage is emerging from the ground yet. I鈥檓 wondering if my peonies died. Shouldn鈥檛 I see foliage by now? My tulips are in full bloom as well as my redbud tree and saucer magnolias. Other plants in the same bed are emerging. What can I do to help them?
Our peonies died off this winter. Is this normal?
My parents loved their peonies down in Illinois. I now have several plants. My dad swore one had to put sugar water on the buds so that ants would eat off the green part and allow them to bloom. Also, after they were done blooming he always cut them back for the remainder of the summer. Have you ever heard of this? Do I cut them back just in the fall?
It is recommended to cut off dead flowers after they are finished blooming, but we generally leave the foliage alone until fall in order to allow the plant to soak up the summer sun and have plenty of energy for surviving the winter and producing healthy blooms the following year. See our Peony Growing Guide for more tips.
stormy weather took my peonies down how far should I cut them back and when
I have raised peonies for years in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and I have always trimmed back mine after they are done blooming to 15 inches tall. I let the rest die down to feed the root ball. I never trim down to the ground in the Fall. The remainder rots away by Spring, and I always have a healthy supply of blooms. One year I did have some powdery mildew, and cutting them back like this and spraying with a light soapy water straightened them right out.
